Sagres School of Exploration
The Sagres School of Exploration is the world's premier educational institute for the creation of the world's finest pioneers, explorers and adventurers. Created out of the Godlen Age of Discovery, the Sagres School of Exploration has held fast to the ideals of its founders, through colonisation, succession crisies, global conflicts and advancing private enterprise, and remains a neutral establishment, with no political affiliations, whose sole purpose it to push the levels of human understanding and knowledge of the world.
Location & Campus
To protect its neutrality, the School has existed on previously undiscovered Isla do Viseu, located off the northern coast of Australia, allowing it a great amount of independance from powers of whilst still close enough to the Oceanic countries to allow the movement of supplies and students, who tend to arrive via boat from Darwin. The island itself is relatively level and given over complete to the school campus, which includes Viseu harbour where the students will first arrive and where the School's utility and training fleet are moored; the student accommodation blocks and amentiies, affectionately know as "the Village" and the various faculty buildings. All, however, are dwarfed by the Viseu Beacon. This is the School's main building-it's heart- and it is from here that the school is governed. The only raised area on the island is to the western side and is a curved passagway that curves up and around, almost 180° to allow the inhabitant of the stately home perched on top a panoramic view of the campus. This is the home of the Duke of Viseu and Arch-Chancellor of the school.Structure
Senior leadership of the school:
Arch-Chancellor - A lifelong appointment, responsible for the overall running of the school. Also receives the title Duke of Viseu.
The current encumbent is Duke Edward "Ted" Ursine of Anglesey, a former military man whose sense of adventure is legendary, if not infectious. His Grace embodies the ethos of the School and the Society that he also belongs too and is one of the more popular subject leads, with his Wilderness Survival courses always being oversubscribed. Through is military training and his general upbringing, there is nothing His Grace does not know about surviving off the land.
Vice-Chancellor - deputy to the Arch-Chancellor, focuses more on the administrative side of the running of the institute. May use the title of Lord-Lieutenant of Viseu
Rector - Chief financial officer, responsible for all matters of income and expenditure.
Other positions:
Dean - Head of the different faculties, typically titled "Dean of...."
Chief Technician - Head of maintenance and Faciltiies Management. Currently, Smithers is the school's Chief Technician. A pleseant, well thought of man whose skill with anythign mechanical or electrical is second-to-none
Assets
The School outright owns the island and the campus built upon it. Beside this, in order to function daily, the school also maintains two small aircraft- a fixed wing Cessna plane and a helicopter- and a handful of small motorboats, used by the Maritime Sciences faculty, and three large sea vessels: The passenger ferry Explorer 1 which is the boat that ferries students and staff between the island and Darwin; the cargo vessel Pack Mule, which is used to ferry supplies to and from the island and a wooden-hulled caravel, TS Mercator.
All of these are lovingly cared for by the school's Chief Technician, Smithers- a middle aged man, who treats all students with a very fatherly mentality. Previously a student here, Smithers learnt quickly that his gifts didn't lie in sciences, mathematics or even sports, but within the skill of being able to understand anything electrical or mechanical with ease.
History
From the 15th Century the world saw a golden age of discovery, the likes of which had never been seen before. For the first time, people started exploring God's created world for the benefit of all and to reveal the created wonders from beyond the horizon, bringing Him glory. The school's founder, was one of those pioneers who saw what the legends of exploration achieved on their own, but dared to imagine what could be achieved together and so set plans afoot to bring all of these explorers together, along with those scholars and craftsmen who made these expeditions possible.
Prince Henry sent out corresspondance to some of the greatest explorers and innovators of the time including Magellan, de Gama, Mercator, Cortes, Colombus - inviting them to his villa in Sagres, on the south coast of Portugal, where he laid out his vision. It was hard not to be impressed by the idea and the passion through which it was delivered and those attending agreed to see it come to fruition for the good of humanity and the glory of he who created all of these wonders they were going to find. More meetings followed, with invitee lists growing with each session of what would become know as the "Sagres School of thought on discovery". With such notable personalities gathering in size, inevitably soon royal interest from powers near and far, wanting to finance and sponsor expeditions for the good of their realms, and these powers weren't used to beign told no. Polite refusals were responded to by increased offers; further refusals were met with sterner demands. Soon, members of the Sagres School were being threatened with false charges and some even believed spies were being sent to report back on meetings.
The founders were dismayed at the display of greed for riches and power beign displayed and set against their vision. It was an embodiment of the spiritual battles many had recalled through church sermons and studies and they knew it would only grow worse. So without an official word, meetings of the Sagres school stopped and those explorers seemed to go their own way once more, however this was all part of the smokescreen provided for the benefit of the rejected patrons, for God had provided them with a solution.
Using his royal postion and the wealth of the House of Aviz, Prince Henry had himself appointed the Grand Master of the Order of Christ -a chivalric order in Henry's home of Portugal, instituted on the back of then disbanding of the Knights Templar. Many of the attendees soon found themselves inducted in the same and similar orders. This gave them a controlled and secretive way to meet away from prying eyes, however these orders also contained persons who were staunch royal supporters, loyal to their homelands and so, as a further level of secrecy, an order within the Holy Orders was formed, remaining until this day - The Holy Guild of Explorers.
Ove the next four centuries, acting in circles within circles, the Holy Guild continued the work that were discussed by the original Sagres assembly with impunity and free from political and private interference. As the orders were secularised and reduced to nothing more than branches of national honour systems; as colonies revolted and demanded independence form their colonisers; as the entire world would face two global engagements, the worked of the Explorers continued, its members making discovery upon discovery in the name of God.
However, the spiritual face of the globe was beginning to change and greed and power were soon the items that the world craved and used to define existence and the opposition to the ideals of the Holy Guild was becoming more overt and emboldened. The Guild knew it hate to react accordingly and so, using the wealth of resources it had been belessed with through trade routes, discoveries and the income of the various aligned noble houses and dynasties, in the 19th century,they revealed their discovery of the Isla do Viseu in the Pacific and purchased it via various connections, establishing the school as we know it today.
On the surface and for the majority of its students, it was to be the place to learn about the natural world, natural sciences and the latest technology research. A place the right people, with the right knowledge could use to launch a career that would give them wealth, power and fame as a pioneering scientist. However, beneath the surface is would serve a greater purpose- the recruitment of future members of the Holy Guild of Explorers
A vita ad deum - From life to God
Founding Date
1800s
Type
Educational, School/Academy
Leader
Ruling Organization
Leader Title
Parent Organization
Location
Official Languages
Related Species
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments